Google has been publishing statistics on how many requests it receives from the various world governments for a couple of years now. These requests fall into two categories. In the first case they asked Google to divulge user information, such as their personal contact information, or what they did using Google’s services. In the second case, they asked Google to remove pieces of content from their services. Google is the only major company to publish data about the requests they get, and they do so every six months. The last report, published last week, reveals that in the first six months of 2011, these requests went up 29%.

The information shows things like 757 items being requested to be removed by the US Government, 646 by South Korea, 121 by China, and so on. Then, Google says how many of these requests it complied with. In some cases, like for the US, they specify how many were for copyright issues, defamation, and so on. They also divide the requests by service, such as YouTube, Blogger, AdWords, and so on. When it comes to obtaining user data, the numbers are even more impressive. The various United States government entities asked for information on 11,057 users or accounts. Google complied with 93% of those. The second highest number is India, with 2,439 requests. In that case, the company complied with 70%.

Not everything is shown by the Google transparency report. For example, in many cases data is omitted when the company isn’t allowed to talk about it. Also, when the number of requests was low, they may have been omitted entirely. The overall stats show which countries are more likely to censor versus those who aren’t. They also show which services are most likely to cause issues with governments. Private parties however are not part of this report, so when a company such as a music label asks to remove content from YouTube, that isn’t included.

The very fact that Google publishes these stats is an anomaly. No other large company does, even though they certainly receive requests as well. We know, for example, that all four major cellphone carriers in the U.S. have web portals that law enforcement and government officials can use to get user information. But there’s no indication from them how many requests they receive, if they review them, or if they comply with all of them. Google is part of a group called the DueProcessCoalition, a group that attempts to bring reforms to U.S. laws that allow broad, warrantless tapping of information by government officials. Yet, none of the other members of this group, such as AOL, AT&T, Facebook, or Microsoft, publish any such transparency information.

Then, there’s the so-called National Security Letters. Those are the letters that the FBI can send to anyone, asking for information about anything, without a warrant. These letters almost always come with a gag order as well, so the party who receives it cannot talk about it. The FBI issues over 50,000 such letters every year, and those cannot be part of any transparency report, since their very existence is kept secret. While they are supposed to be used in drug or terrorism cases, it’s long been suspected that they are being widely abused, and used for cases with nothing to do with national security. The Department of Justice confirmed that, indeed, this was the case.

I don’t think Newt stands much of a chance to win the nomination. Frankly, I have some issues with him. Notwithstanding, he does have a grasp of history and his talk of abolishing the 9th Circuit gets me a little bit giddy.

Tonight’s the night that my children and I will celebrate our annual National Democrat Night. Actually, it will be just my younger children and some grandchildren. My older ones think they are too old, too mature for such frivolity.

With all of the sense of entitlement of government school kids, we will menacingly prowl our neighborhood and demand that others – who clearly have more than we do – give the fruits of their labor to us. After all, it’s only fair! And it better not be any lame apples.

In keeping with the theme, we dress up like our favorite Democrat. I use the word “favorite” very, very loosely. Like everything Democrat, it’s a relative term. Some of the favorite costumes include:

Nancy Pelosi mask. It has a drawstring in the back so you can make the face as tight as you want.

Eric Holder mask. It didn’t even know about Halloween until a couple of weeks ago.

Hillary Clinton mask. Enough said.

This year we are adding a nod to the plight of the Occupy Wall Street crowd. I mean, we gotta stand together against the corporate greed of mega-corporations like Hersheys, Brachs, and m&m’s. So instead of saying “Trick or Treat” we are chanting, “What do we want? We don’t know. When do we want it? Now!”

Two former employees of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell have pled guilty to 3rd degree murder charges for their roles in the deaths of an abortion patient and one baby born alive during a failed late-term abortion. This is reportedly the first time that an abortion worker has been found guilty of murder for killing a baby.

This week marked the 11th anniversary of the death of my Father. I heard somewhere that the sense of loss is supposed to diminish with time. For me it’s been the exact opposite. I miss him and our frequent talks now more than ever.

My earliest memory of my Father is walking with him along the sidewalk in our neighborhood. I remember holding his hand as we walked. He was a mountain of a man and his massive hand easily engulfed mine. I remember being so happy, so safe. I was with him.

Growing up, we had a standing arm wrestling challenge. For years my arm wasn’t long enough to reach the warm, firm grasp of his hand. So I just held on to his wrist. He won effortlessly. Every time. The best I could hope for was that he would let me push on his unmovable arm for a moment. But defeat was inevitable. Funny, it didn’t feel like defeat.

Eventually, I was able to wrap my hand in his. I never did win one of those contests. In our last match, I detected the slightest effort on his part before the back of my hand hit the table. He retired undefeated . . . and undefeatable.

Years later, he went to hospital for the last time, I kept a virtually unbroken vigil at his bedside. Death is an enemy – it’s the last one – but an enemy nonetheless. That belief moved beyond the theoretical when the doctor came in to check on my Dad. Very matter-of-factly, my Father told the doctor, “I am going to die in two or three more days.”

I think the only thing that allowed me to “keep it together” was the calmness with which my Father uttered those words. Since his passing, they ring in my ears as clearly as when he spoke them. And I am not able to keep it together.

I would not take a million dollars for those last days. My Father and I continued to talk. It was laborious for him, so there were long periods of silence. I sat there holding his hand for the last time. The next day he slipped into what appeared to be sleep. An unwakeable sleep.

Our conversations were over; at least the part where he talked. I had heard of people being in a coma, who later recollected conversations that had taken place in their hospital room. So I kept talking. He just slept.

Late in the day, as I was holding his hand, I asked, “Dad, now that you’re at the end of your life, what is most important to you?” His grip tightened, a shadow of his arm wrestling days. For the first time in a day and a half, my Father opened his eyes, lifted his head from the pillow, looked me straight in the eyes:

“The Lord and your mother.”

He laid his head back and closed his eyes and never said another word.. He died the next morning,

“The Lord and your mother.” Wow. What a testimony. What a gift.

In his last few hours here, he was thinking of what – make that who – he loved most. He had the grace to live well. Despite a long and cruel disease, he also had the grace to die well. That’s the testimony.

He left us. Actually, he left us . . . a gift. As he exited this world and entered the next, his dying breath was an expression of his love for God above all. That’s the gift. He gave it to my mother and to all his children, grandchildren, and beyond. Pointing us to the Heavenly Father just as he was going to meet Him face to face.

He left us. But not really. His faith in God remains with us. Not in some cosmic wishful thinking way, but in substance. With real evidence. It’s a gift that I want like nothing else to give to my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Despite my many failings, I hope they can say, “He really loved God above all.”

So while I am missing Dad, I am eternally thankful to “My Father which art in heaven” for my Father who is also in heaven. So eternally thankful.

You’re probably used to seeing TSA’s signature blue uniforms at the airport, but now agents are hitting the interstates to fight terrorism with Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR).

Tuesday Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.

Agents are recruiting truck drivers, like Rudy Gonzales, into the First Observer Highway Security Program to say something if they see something. “Not only truck drivers, but cars, everybody should be aware of what’s going on, on the road,” said Gonzales.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol checked trucks with drug and bomb sniffing dogs during random inspections. The random inspections really aren’t any more thorough than normal, according to Tennessee Highway Patrol Colonel Tracy Trott who says paying attention to details can make a difference. Tuesday’s statewide “VIPR” operation isn’t in response to any particular threat, according to officials.

Gaddafi: Barakeh Obama is friend. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi considers the US president a blessing to the Muslim world. In a speech published in London-based al-Hayat newspaper on Saturday, Gaddafi praised Barack Obama, called him a “friend” and said there is no longer any dispute between his country and the US.

“Friend” Barakeh Obama: “You have won your revolution . . . One of the world’s longest-serving dictators is no more.”

What Michael Hirsh has been saying . . .

Gaddafi: Barakeh Obama is friend. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi considers the US president a blessing to the Muslim world. In a speech published in London-based al-Hayat newspaper on Saturday, Gaddafi praised Barack Obama, called him a “friend” and said there is no longer any dispute between his country and the US.

“Friend” Barakeh Obama: “You have won your revolution . . . One of the world’s longest-serving dictators is no more.”

Google has been publishing statistics on how many requests it receives from the various world governments for a couple of years now. These requests fall into two categories. In the first case they asked Google to divulge user information, such as their personal contact information, or what they did using Google’s services. In the second case, they asked Google to remove pieces of content from their services. Google is the only major company to publish data about the requests they get, and they do so every six months. The last report, published last week, reveals that in the first six months of 2011, these requests went up 29%.

The information shows things like 757 items being requested to be removed by the US Government, 646 by South Korea, 121 by China, and so on. Then, Google says how many of these requests it complied with. In some cases, like for the US, they specify how many were for copyright issues, defamation, and so on. They also divide the requests by service, such as YouTube, Blogger, AdWords, and so on. When it comes to obtaining user data, the numbers are even more impressive. The various United States government entities asked for information on 11,057 users or accounts. Google complied with 93% of those. The second highest number is India, with 2,439 requests. In that case, the company complied with 70%.

Not everything is shown by the Google transparency report. For example, in many cases data is omitted when the company isn’t allowed to talk about it. Also, when the number of requests was low, they may have been omitted entirely. The overall stats show which countries are more likely to censor versus those who aren’t. They also show which services are most likely to cause issues with governments. Private parties however are not part of this report, so when a company such as a music label asks to remove content from YouTube, that isn’t included.

The very fact that Google publishes these stats is an anomaly. No other large company does, even though they certainly receive requests as well. We know, for example, that all four major cellphone carriers in the U.S. have web portals that law enforcement and government officials can use to get user information. But there’s no indication from them how many requests they receive, if they review them, or if they comply with all of them. Google is part of a group called the DueProcessCoalition, a group that attempts to bring reforms to U.S. laws that allow broad, warrantless tapping of information by government officials. Yet, none of the other members of this group, such as AOL, AT&T, Facebook, or Microsoft, publish any such transparency information.

Then, there’s the so-called National Security Letters. Those are the letters that the FBI can send to anyone, asking for information about anything, without a warrant. These letters almost always come with a gag order as well, so the party who receives it cannot talk about it. The FBI issues over 50,000 such letters every year, and those cannot be part of any transparency report, since their very existence is kept secret. While they are supposed to be used in drug or terrorism cases, it’s long been suspected that they are being widely abused, and used for cases with nothing to do with national security. The Department of Justice confirmed that, indeed, this was the case.

What Michael Hirsh has been saying

Google has been publishing statistics on how many requests it receives from the various world governments for a couple of years now. These requests fall into two categories. In the first case they asked Google to divulge user information, such as their personal contact information, or what they did using Google’s services. In the second case, they asked Google to remove pieces of content from their services. Google is the only major company to publish data about the requests they get, and they do so every six months. The last report, published last week, reveals that in the first six months of 2011, these requests went up 29%.

The information shows things like 757 items being requested to be removed by the US Government, 646 by South Korea, 121 by China, and so on. Then, Google says how many of these requests it complied with. In some cases, like for the US, they specify how many were for copyright issues, defamation, and so on. They also divide the requests by service, such as YouTube, Blogger, AdWords, and so on. When it comes to obtaining user data, the numbers are even more impressive. The various United States government entities asked for information on 11,057 users or accounts. Google complied with 93% of those. The second highest number is India, with 2,439 requests. In that case, the company complied with 70%.

Not everything is shown by the Google transparency report. For example, in many cases data is omitted when the company isn’t allowed to talk about it. Also, when the number of requests was low, they may have been omitted entirely. The overall stats show which countries are more likely to censor versus those who aren’t. They also show which services are most likely to cause issues with governments. Private parties however are not part of this report, so when a company such as a music label asks to remove content from YouTube, that isn’t included.

The very fact that Google publishes these stats is an anomaly. No other large company does, even though they certainly receive requests as well. We know, for example, that all four major cellphone carriers in the U.S. have web portals that law enforcement and government officials can use to get user information. But there’s no indication from them how many requests they receive, if they review them, or if they comply with all of them. Google is part of a group called the DueProcessCoalition, a group that attempts to bring reforms to U.S. laws that allow broad, warrantless tapping of information by government officials. Yet, none of the other members of this group, such as AOL, AT&T, Facebook, or Microsoft, publish any such transparency information.

Then, there’s the so-called National Security Letters. Those are the letters that the FBI can send to anyone, asking for information about anything, without a warrant. These letters almost always come with a gag order as well, so the party who receives it cannot talk about it. The FBI issues over 50,000 such letters every year, and those cannot be part of any transparency report, since their very existence is kept secret. While they are supposed to be used in drug or terrorism cases, it’s long been suspected that they are being widely abused, and used for cases with nothing to do with national security. The Department of Justice confirmed that, indeed, this was the case.

What Michael Hirsh has been saying. . .

New high-tech bullet GROWS in mid-air, so you can’t miss your target. Just cool. Advanced Ballistics Concepts has invented a new high-tech bullet engineered to greatly increase accuracy, which is set to debut at the …